RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Ebon Shroud blurb, thanks to the Wayback Machine.
The Ebon Shroud
by Richard Pett & Nicolas Logue
North of Tarkshorn Vale, beyond the giant infested Britlebone Mountains, night reigns eternal. Deep in the icy holocaust of the Ebon Shroud the cold kills all but the most stubborn of beasts, and true immortals rule a landscape of frozen nightmares from castles of blood and ice. These elder vampires have held the Ebon Shroud in their jaundiced fist since time immemorial, quelling the last of the wolf lords in a Silver Eclipse long ago. The living are little more than cattle to feed their hunger and toys to satisfy their dark whims.
The only threat to their power is the smoking citadel of Bhaarel, whose smoke-spewing basalt spire rose from the glacial expanse fifty years ago. Just as the rivers of hot fiendish blood that pour through the Black City's stony veins defy the hoarfrost and howling wind, so too does this hell-spat stronghold defy the vampires of the Ebon Shroud.
Long have the civilized races south of the Brittlebone Mountains avoided the scrutiny of both these dread powers, and most who dwell in Tarkshorn Vale know nothing of the ominous powers roiling in the sun-scorned reaches to the north. But now the darkness is on the move. The Ebon Shroud rolls southward swallowing everything in its path, as implacable as the deathless masters who ride with it.
The Ebon Shroud is a 130+ page mega-adventure for 12th to 20th level characters, brought to you by the twisted fever dreams of Richard Pett and Nicolas Logue. Using an exciting and entirely non-linear plot web format The Ebon Shroud allows you and your players to venture into a realm of darkness and adventure in any way you see fit. You are humanity's last hope for survival. How will you face the darkness?
Gotta get a successful Razor Coast kickstarter done and books in people's hands first, but it isn't out of the question, I'd say.
I think its safe for me to chime in: If the fans want to see more Nic Logue/Richard Pett, the Razor Coast KS would be a fine time to let them, Lou, the Frogs, and everyone else know it. If that funds (well), it certainly opens the door for future collaboration between the principal parties.
Skeeter Green
Argh, matey!!!!
BTW, when you finally see some of the Razor Coast KS goals, you're gonna giggle like schoolgirls. I did, and Im not a giggler.
Grrrr....evil Frogs trying to take away all my money.
Heh, we already have you....
SG
Can't believe we were stupid enough to have a child that wants, like, fed and clothed. That money is for da frogs!
Dreading the KS goals and rewards :-)
That is what grandparents like my wife and I are for! Just ask my wife. With an 18 year old grandson, and now a 3 month old granddaughter, she is in hog heaven and spends a lot of time at the store buying things for the baby!
-- david
Papa.DRB
Looking forward to them both. I am a pre-orderer for RC and will get Ebon Shroud if it is made.
At one point Nic mentioned a savage worlds conversion for the stuff he was making (cant recall if it was just RC or both). Is this still a possibility?
Werecorpse - I'm not sure if we're entertaining that idea at all, but we do have our hands full releasing for two systems already.
Don't forget that we have another piece from Nic & Lou available if you can't wait!
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Wondering if you have a Razor Coast pre-order from he misty past? I just posted a link to the Frog God site where you can plug in your email address and find out. Here's the thread.
Werecorpse - I'm not sure if we're entertaining that idea at all, but we do have our hands full releasing for two systems already.
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No drama, thanks
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Whoa, Ebon Shroud sounds coooool.you should see the art - there was a preview pic of a vampire chick... Wow.
Cruciata Navaar
Got that piece. When I contacted the artist -- Cynthia Sheppard -- about the possibility of doing art for the kickstarter with FGG, she sent the old Razor Coast and Ebon Shroud art over.
Love that piece. Cynthia Sheppard numbers among my personal faves.
Yeah makes you cringe doesn't it!
Wondering if you have a Razor Coast pre-order from he misty past? I just posted a link to the Frog God site where you can plug in your email address and find out. Here's the thread.
Small problem, it says that I never was a person who preorderd Razor Coast, but I did. HELP!
James
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Hey Mir,
The adventure path in Razor coast goes from about 5th-about 12/13th. The Indulgences contains a 1st level adventure, and there is certainly enough material in the Razor Coast sandbox for GMs to riff off and create 4 levels of adventure.
Your instincts are good: I'm currently polishing a guidebook chapter I wrote for Razor Coast that suggests to GMs how to plan out an instantiation of their particular adventure path. To create digestible chunks, I've organized that, roughly, by character level.
I'll be able to share more details as we get closer to the FGG kickstarter launch, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. Hope that helps.
21st December right? 15 days :D
Wasn't it December, 25th? So right *after* you opened granma's envelope?
Ruyan.
EDIT: Yep, just check Blonde Frog's post:
Frog God Games Razor Coast Kickstarter starts December 25th 2012 at midnight and will run for 30 days.
Ah getting ahead of myself :(
Mysteries of the Razor Coast is a first level module. ;)
That first level adventure indulgence was never released was it? I picked up the indulgences at the time but I either missed that one or it was one of the ones talked about that never made it. I may end up seeing if I can tie some of the early Freeport stuff into it.
The Seabear was a level 1 adventure indulgence if i recall. (that was the name of the ship, i am blanking on the adventure name itself.)
That must be a silly question but as someone who just discovered that something called "Razor coast" existed : is that a 1-20 campaign ?
Anyway, I was not home for Rappan Athuk and I'm still regretting it, this time, I'll be there.
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That must be a silly question but as someone who just discovered that something called "Razor coast" existed : is that a 1-20 campaign ?
Anyway, I was not home for Rappan Athuk and I'm still regretting it, this time, I'll be there.
No, see Lou's post from Wednesday above. Its a large book (guessing 128 pages +) that will take pcs from 5th through 12/13th level. I have a suspicion that indulgences/side adventures may be included or recommended to get your pc's up to 5th.
I am glad that the adventure does not start at first. There are quite a few of those around and many are excellent. There are not so many that enable you to take an existing party of medium to high level and plug it in to the adventure.
If you like RA, take a look at Slumbering Tsar. It is a deadly half a million word exploration/dungeon crawl from Greg Vaughan. You won't be disappointed.
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That must be a silly question but as someone who just discovered that something called "Razor coast" existed : is that a 1-20 campaign ?
Anyway, I was not home for Rappan Athuk and I'm still regretting it, this time, I'll be there.No, see Lou's post from Wednesday above. Its a large book (guessing 128 pages +) that will take pcs from 5th through 12/13th level. I have a suspicion that indulgences/side adventures may be included or recommended to get your pc's up to 5th.
I am glad that the adventure does not start at first. There are quite a few of those around and many are excellent. There are not so many that enable you to take an existing party of medium to high level and plug it in to the adventure.
If you like RA, take a look at Slumbering Tsar. It is a deadly half a million word exploration/dungeon crawl from Greg Vaughan. You won't be disappointed.
The original intent of Razor Coast was to created a semi-sandbox which players might explore at their will.
So not a direct, plotted adventure.
Thanks a lot. Now I can't understand how I missed this post :o
Anyway you can count on my money, this looks really promising.
RA and Slumbering TSar are still available to buy here, in book and PDF.
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Hey Mir,
You're pretty close. I'm a little hamstrung trying to discuss this before the kickstarter, but you're right in that there is the setting sandbox and the adventure sandbox.
There's a definite 5-12th level AP in Razor Coast. It's got two plot arcs for the players to discover and multiple NPCs with big, dramatic life stories in which the players have the opportunity to make a decisive difference. Choosing some NPCs to ignore and others to champion is designed to have a clear and significant impact on how the main story -- the PCs adventure -- plays out.
That said, at any given level range -- for example 6th-7th -- there is no set path for the PCs to follow. Instead we try to interlink everything so that anything the players take an interest in leads them to, not just an exciting adventure for them, but one shaped by the fact they took a specific interest. For example, because they took an interest in drug running pirates threatening colonial trade instead of, say, an interest in the plight of the native Tulita shamans and the second coming of Dajobas, the shark god.
At the same time as we give enough encounters in the book to take the party from 6/7th to 7th/8th level, etc., etc., we also try to walk a tightrope and not develop too much, providing two things instead: (1) enough information and creative inspiration to guide GMs in creating their own definitively Razor Coast encounters and set-pieces and (2) suggesting where to plug in supplemental material; for example, if your players decided to do xyz, here's where you can plug in the Blood Waters Indulgence.
Also at the same time that our adventurers are adventuring, changing the lives of the characters they encounter, and shaping the future of Port Shaw -- the evil villains are not idle. Harthagoa the Krakenfiend -- ancient spawn of Demogorgon and a She-Kraken -- advances his plans. Where the Kraken's plotting intersects the PCs adventuring is something that should play out differently at each table. All the while Dajobas the Hunger, Shark God of the Tulita, cuts the dark ocean on his return from exile, and his herald plans to welcome him with carnage. When this villain's plans meet the PCs trajectory, well that too should play out at least a little differently for every table.
What this means, however, is that as the villains plans advance, events most likely sweep up the PCs on their crest and send them crashing in pretty much one general direction. So by the very end of the AP most parties will face a similar scenario, although the specific layout of that scenario should vary depending on PC choices throughout the campaign.
In other words -- to give a vastly oversimplified example -- if the PCs killed Hugo the Mighty, Hugo ain't around to help them fight the Shark God, and Hugo's young lover Boraisa may have become a Shark God minion just to get the power to exact her revenge. Depends on whether the PCs were nice to her surviving children or not. Something like that.
OK - very unsure if I've muddied or clarified. Either way, let me know and if I need to I'll try again. Late for me here in NY. :)
Hope that helps.
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The Razor Coast has drawn men to madness and slaughter since the world was young. Tulita natives, born from the same fire as this jagged coast, claim the Razor existed long before the world’s other lands. It is a crucible of flame cooled by the ocean’s caress and its mountains, reefs and lightless depths teem with as many terrors as they do lustrous spoils. The Razor bucks the trappings of civilization in much the same manner the storm-tossed sea spurns the men who dare mount her. This is no place for the weak-willed. Untested souls are food for its storms, its fickle gods, its ancient spirits and the evil predations of unfathomable creatures. No less dangerous are the men who make the coast their home and whose dark desires put most horrors to shame.
Every year another colony of hopeful settlers springs up, only to be silenced by the unforgiving landscape or butchered by fearsome tribes of monsters lurking just beyond the tree line. Yet still the colonists come, lured to the coast’s riches: its kava, its jocas fruit and koa wood, to name but a few. All treasures worth twice their weight in gold and all ripe for the picking along the Razor. Mossy placards emblazoned with the bold names of these colonies’ founders are the only testament left to their brief, prideful existence. The last chapter of their story is now told in dust and ash.
Port Shaw is the only survivor. The town clings to the coast like the sea’s most stubborn barnacle, impossible to scrape from the Razor’s edge. At times it limps along, vexed by demons, angry gods, cannibal tribes, dread pirate armadas and worse; but at present the city thrives as foreign vessels flock to its harbor, their holds hungry for whale oil and other treasures.
Port Shaw menaces and delights in equal extremes. Treasures and pleasures abound in this whaling boomtown, but evil and abandon take almost every soul who comes her way. This playground of pirates is ruled by the crushing fist of the Municipal Dragoons and filled with both the ancient curses of the coast’s Tulita natives and dark secrets of its own. It is an easy place to die, and a town where countless legends are born.
- From the Journals of Reiker Glass
Naturalist, Historian, Charter Member of the Cartographer’s and Explorer’s Guild